


so take my hand, you're treading water

by inthisdive



Category: Disney RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-17
Updated: 2010-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:22:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inthisdive/pseuds/inthisdive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Demi and Joe filmed their music video, and Demi has apparently stepped back from her new friends after they sold her out to gossip sites). The downtime in filming was the time for conversation, and she had always known Joe to be the perfect friend for downtime - happy to goof around, but willing to listen to the serious stuff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so take my hand, you're treading water

**Author's Note:**

> title from Ingrid Michaelson's "Porcelain Fists"

*  
Demi hung underneath Joe's arm in a lazy hug, and they walked the waters' edge with upturned cuffs as the lighting was changed; the downtime in filming was the time for conversation, and she had always known Joe to be the perfect friend for downtime - happy to goof around, but willing to listen to the serious stuff.

Sometimes, Demi needed to do the serious stuff.

"I mean..." she paused, and laughed a little when he caught the strands of her hair from the breeze and tucked them behind her ear; lightening the mood, as ever."I mean," she tried again, "I don't think they're bad people, Jac and everyone..."

"Even though they sold you out." Joe's voice was casual, light, nothing even near accusing, but it was then that Demi noticed - remembered - realised - that Joe really was twenty now, and wearing it well. Kevin had always been mature and Nick had always been _too_ mature, but there was Joe, right here on the beach, with his pretentious hipster almost-Buddy-Holly-glasses, finally coming into his own.

"Even though," Demi murmured, as they came to a stop. She curled her toes in the sand, taking comfort from the warmth of it. She hated, _hated_ being taken advantage of. She hated that her cool, older friends had done it to her. She'd felt so independent, so... free... to seek out her own new group of friends, like she was only defined by _Demi_ and nothing else. Now, though, now she just got to feel like a fool.

"It sucks." Joe paused. "We've had it happen to us before."

 _We_ , Demi knew, meant Joe and his brothers. Even now, even so many years in, some things belonged to all three (four) of them; even now they were still a unit. Demi felt both envious of that bond and grateful she was part of the family. She shucked under his chin, because he wasn't the only one who could be encouraging, and said, "Yeah, but you've had everything happen to you."

Joe nodded. He couldn't exactly argue, and Demi knew that. They stepped back out of the waterline, and sat in the sand. She leaned against Joe's side; his arm settled back around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. She watched the waves.

Still looking over the water, Demi spoke, quiet and sure. "I'm through with them. I'm not... I don't want to get trapped again... but I'm through with that. I did it the wrong way."

Joe couldn't argue with that, either, but she was grateful for his soft spot for her; he didn't outright agree with her, saving her pride. "They were nice to you. Lisa thought they were okay." The Origliasso twin. Demi should have spent more time with she and Jess than with scenesters, she guessed... the people Alex had introduced her to The Dirks, the Nicoles.

But then, it was proving to be a good lesson to learn: skip the Traces, cling to the Mileys.

The Selenas. She sighed, and closed her eyes. A moment later, she felt Joe's hand stroking her hair.

"I hung out with Nick some yesterday," he offered, and despite knowing exactly where this entire conversation was now apparently going, Demi smiled - because she knew exactly where this entire conversation was going. Joe was a terrible liar and so transparent, and she loved him for it.

"How is she?" she asked, looking down at her hands and idly twisting the ring on her pinkie finger. She wanted to know, or she didn't - she couldn't decide.

Joe smiled. "According to Nick or according to a sane person?"

"No poetry, please."

"She's good." Joe rested his head gently on top of Demi's; they were going to have to sit through hair and makeup again anyway, Demi reasoned before freaking out. Besides, the comfort was nice.

 _She's good_. It could have meant a million different things, but it was Joe: it meant that Selena was doing well, that she was happy, and - she guessed - that Nick wasn't screwing things up just yet. So, exactly what he’d said – she was good. That was a relief. She opened her mouth to ask about Taylor, but closed it again; she was trying to _not_ be bitchy and bitter, and Joe probably wouldn't join in on that game any more. The downsides to his maturing were only small.

"Good," she said instead, quietly. "That's really good." She could picture Selena, then, in her mind, clear as anything - the way she wrinkled up her nose when she laughed, the static-crackle laced through with her voice on long distance phone calls, the way she used to hold her hand when she was scared.

She _missed_ her.

"I'm not going to make you talk about it," Joe said, unwinding himself. "But I’m gonna say this: if you called her, she wouldn't hang up." He jumped to his feet and offered Demi his hands. She took them at his wrists, pulling herself up, and laughed when she slipped in the sand, falling against him.

Joe laughed, too, and caught her in an impromptu hug. Demi was grateful; she needed it.   
Once she had sobered, laughter over, she pushed out of Joe's arms and looked up at him. "I'll call her tonight," she promised.

"Good." He kissed her forehead, and it was so brotherly it made Demi's eyes roll, but she liked it a little, secretly. She'd always wanted brothers.

And when Joe gave her a sly look, mimed an air gun shooting up with his fingers, and started to run across the beach, back to the set, Demi followed him – raced him - heart lighter from all the talk.

That night, she made the call.


End file.
